Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux

The place

Sainte-Foy is the far east of the Gironde, where the department meets the Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne: 19 communes around Sainte-Foy-la-Grande: Caplong, Eynesse, Gensac, Landerrouat, Les Lèves-et-Thoumeyragues, Ligueux, Margueron, Massugas, Pellegrue, Pessac-sur-Dordogne, Pineuilh, Riocaud, La Roquille, Saint-André-et-Appelles, Saint-Avit-de-Soulège, Saint-Avit-Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Philippe-du-Seignal, Saint-Quentin-de-Caplong and Sainte-Foy-la-Grande itself. Clay and limestone soils cover the plateau, with deposits of sand and silt, and lake limestones lie on the left bank of the Dordogne. The vineyard covers 280 hectares, worked by about 30 growers.

The rules

The red, from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec (Cot in the rules) and Merlot, asks for 198 g/l of sugar for Merlot and 189 for the others, 11.5% of natural alcohol and 52 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 65, and is sold from March 31 of the year after the harvest. The whites are Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon and Muscadelle, in 3 styles. The dry white asks for 10.5% and 62 hectoliters with a ceiling of 72. The moelleux, medium sweet, keeps between 17 and 45 g/l of sugar and says so on the label; it asks for 221 g/l in the grape, 13.5% of natural alcohol and 45 hectoliters with a ceiling of 55, and is raised until December 15 and sold from January 1 of the year after the harvest. The liquoreux, fully sweet, is picked by hand in successive passes, at 255 g/l of sugar and 15% of natural alcohol, with no enrichment, keeps at least 51 g/l and yields 37 hectoliters with a ceiling of 40; it is sold from March 31 of the year after the harvest. At least 4,500 vines a hectare for all of them.

The names

No classification. A civil court of the Gironde set the place apart from the Entre-deux-Mers on May 24, 1928, and the decree of July 31, 1937 made it the appellation Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux. On June 8, 2016 INAO’s national committee approved it as the 5th place name of the Côtes de Bordeaux, and in November 2016 its growers joined the Union des Côtes de Bordeaux: the wine has been Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux since. The whites, dry, moelleux and liquoreux, held on through the frost of 1956.

Colors

Red; white dry, moelleux or liquoreux

Communes

19, around Sainte-Foy-la-Grande

Vineyard

280 hectares, about 30 growers

Ground

Clay and limestone on the plateau with sand and silt; lake limestones by the Dordogne

Grapes

Red: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot. White: Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon, Muscadelle

Density

4,500 vines a hectare at least

Yield

Red 52 hectoliters, ceiling 65; dry white 62, ceiling 72; moelleux 45, ceiling 55; liquoreux 37, ceiling 40

Alcohol

Red 11.5%, dry white 10.5%, moelleux 13.5%, liquoreux 15% natural at least

Release

Red and liquoreux from March 31 of the year after the harvest; moelleux from January 1 of the year after the harvest

Classified

No classification

AOC since

July 31, 1937 as Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux; Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux since 2016; cahier (the cahier des charges, the appellation’s official rulebook) of June 4, 2026

Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges Côtes de Bordeaux, arrêté du 4 juin 2026 · INAO, comité national du 8 juin 2016, Côtes de Bordeaux · Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux, histoire · Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux